City Voice: This Weeks Letters

THE article “Vic
reviews elitist policy after staff revolt” (13 Jan) does
well in outlining the concerns of Victoria University (VUW)
academic leaders over the performance of Prof Irving and his
senior management team. However, the headline suggests that
elitist goals were the problem, whereas these were just part
of a much wider concern over governance and resourcing of
university teaching and research at VUW. VUW, like other
universities, must pay attention to excellence – perhaps
perceived as elitism – like most organisations that aspire
to be the best at what they are set up to do. However, it
also has a tradition of service to the wider community. With
declining resources imposed from outside, judgements must be
made between support for funding to maintain, and where
possible develop, excellence in a few fields, and support
for breadth in the university’s degree programmes. Prof
Irving’s vision was to raise the research profile at VUW,
and his actions were plainly in that direction (more funding
for post-graduate scholarships, more support for strategic
research directions). Unfortunately, what was missing was a
clear and convincing articulation of that vision in a way
that was fair to all parts of the university community (as
in the Strategic Plan). Furthermore, efforts to win the
support of those that brought the university its present
high reputation in many fields were compromised by the
cutting of staff positions and facilities that many here saw
as an essential part of a small university community. Some
responsibility for the present situation should be borne by
the VUW Council. Prof Irving was, of course, selected by
Council after the opportunity to consider a wide range of
applicants, and he reported to them on a monthly basis. In
particular, Council might have been expected to recognise –
even compensate for – Prof Irving’s limitations as well as
his positive qualities, and the hazards of his strategic
plan. In addition, responsibility for the problem also lies
with Government in the progressive under-funding of NZ
universities over the last decade (30% decline at VUW in
this period, leading to a planned reduction of 20% in
Science Faculty resources). This made Prof Irving’s vision
an impossibility, even if he had been able to select and
guide a management team with the good sense to draw on the
collective wisdom and experience available from staff at
VUW. Those of us for whom the university with its staff and
students is a major life commitment will continue to work
with the best of our abilities and the resources made
available to us. We do have to say publicly, however, that
both issues of VUW management and the decline in university
funding need to be addressed as a matter of urgency to
maintain the quality of our teaching and research.

P J
Barrett, Professor of Geology, VUW

Self-esteem

“BE natural, be simple, be yourself” for
healthy and happy living. Reading the words of S Greenwood,
Wadestown (13 Jan) reminded me how Americanised NZ has
become. To feel good and have self-esteem one nowadays has
to resort to the scalpel? What has happened to the once
simple and natural society? In my view, self-esteem is a
matter of feeling good within oneself and one’s heart. Not
how one can be transformed by a surgeon’s knife, with all
sorts of potential problems attached to it… So my answer to
the problems of NZ’s greed, nowadays, and to your writer, is
simple commonsense: stay yourself, stay down to earth, stay
honest, and overall stay natural. Enjoy life to its fullest
and don’t bother about “image” or how others view you or
perceive you. Find a job where people look at you as a
caring human being, nothing else. Discard the rest. You are
your own very special self, no one else is like you or can
ever be! I hope this helps and that the pain goes away soon.
It’s all about acceptance, including the ability to change
oneself in a holistic way through a combination of
spirituality, meditation, relaxation, diet and
exercise.

Dr Jocelyne Del Monaco, PhD

Byelection
politics

THE point of the exercise when making
comments about issues is to ensure that it is fact rather
than innuendo, which Mr Kevin Burrows (20 Jan) should take
on board. Though no longer living in Wellington, I have
followed the progress of Wellington City Council enough to
know that the $200 flat rate for water and sewerage actually
advantages eastern suburb residents as the value of their
properties have increased. Also a resolution passed late
last year has Council lobbying Government to bulk fund
rentals in order to bring rents back to 25%. As for his
comments on Lambton Harbour this was never an issue to him
in the last local body elections – perhaps there was a
memory loss. Why would the man even consider nomination for
the Labour candidacy in the Eastern Ward again if he has
such contempt for fellow party associates who are now
Councillors? What loyalty would be shown to most Eastern
Ward residents whom he is planning on representing?

Kathy
Moe, Titahi Bay (Labour Eastern Ward candidate 1998)

Stadium Shows

WELL, we have now got our shiny new
ratepayer-funded stadium and although I didn’t get to the
open day I was amazed to read of cars getting towed away
from the stadium’s carpark for not paying the rather high
parking fees on a free open day. While I understand that the
stadium needs to recoup funds wherever possible, it also
needs to maintain goodwill within the community, and most
ratepayers feel that they should be entitled to the various
entertainments at reasonable prices. The programme, as
publicised to date, contains very standard fare (rugby and
cricket). Where’s the rock concerts we’ve been promised? The
only breaks in this dreary lineup are the Edinburgh Tattoo
(thanks Carla van Zon) and the Aussie Rules football, which
leads me to wonder why these top teams can be flown in from
Melbourne for $15 an adult ticket and only $30 for a family
(including the $2 stadium levy!). The stadium needs to beef
up its programme both in the number and variety of events to
pay its way, not by penalising the public with excessive
prices for tickets, parking, food and drink. Ian
Fullarton, Newtown

Herd St Idea

IF the Herd St
Post Office building is really worth keeping, wouldn’t it be
better for the whole waterfront, especially Chaffers Park,
to pay for it to be moved to Cable St across the road from
New World? Keeping buildings for the sake of keeping them
hardly seems sensible. Surely historic buildings we keep
must have a really substantial heritage value, not just a
little bit of it. Is a corner a building enough? And it is
encouraging Lambton Harbour Management to put other
similar-height buildings near it to keep it company, and
damaging views even more. Why not be ready to let it go and
ensure some of the new buildings re-express and reinterpret
art deco for today and tomorrow – that is, art deco suitable
for Chaffers Park?

Ron England, Newlands

Waitangi
Day

DECENTRALISING the Waitangi celebrations away from
Waitangi makes sense and Helen Clark has set a constructive
precedent by going to a South Island marae. You need not
physically go to Bethlehem to celebrate Christmas, nor trek
to Mecca for Ramadan. What matters in a holiday which
emphasises a certain belief system is the periodical
reminder that the ideal remains to be striven for –
precisely because reality tends to fall short of it!
Waitangi Day emphasises a basic value underlying this
nation. It reminds us that we are heirs to a contract which
permits us to get on with building a harmonious and
inclusive society where we can treat each other as equals no
matter what our race, religion or gender. As humans of equal
worth we can, however, fulfil quite different functions, and
they may be deemed to be of different value. When St Paul
opted for celibacy he assumed that the end of the world was
imminent, hence no point in raising a further generation.
The women gave him a piece of their mind in one location,
which he thenceforth avoided. His dictum that the women
ought to shut up in the congregation has, however, served as
gospel to every male chauvinist under the sun. Unfortunately
the idea that women should not speak on the marae gets
confused with the non-verbal role of women during the
whaikòrerò. I compare this to the procedure you have to go
through when you board a plane. Until proven innocent, you
are deemed a potential hazard. So you have to prove who you
are with your passport and ticket and undergo a luggage and
body search. If I understand marae protocol correctly, it is
the traditional role of the most experienced women of the
hosting marae to do the screening for hostile “mental
luggage” in the manuhiri [visitors]. Emotional states are
reflected in the body language. Pupils widen or constrict
involuntarily depending on the feeling state of the person
observed. The whaikòrerò is deliberately provocative to
elicit emotional reactions, hence the perpetual warming-up
of past grievances. It is the women’s job to judge the body
language of the manuhiri. In their scrutinising silence and
their song lies their power. If and when they sing, you can
go in. Titewhai would surely not sing for Helen Clark like
an old woman with mana. Instead she has chosen to perform a
whero for the media. Let Ngàpuhi deal with their
out-of-order granny. For the rest of us, let’s enjoy
Waitangi Day in each other’s peaceful company and build the
nation by the neighbourhood BBQ. (Abridged)

Brigitte
Hicks-Willer, Karori

Bus shelters

CORALIE
LEYLAND (30 Dec) clearly has a problem with our bus
shelters. We believe she is over-dramatising the problems –
but we do have good news for her. Many of the city’s bus
shelters will be revamped over the next couple of years and
will soon meet some of Ms Leyland’s requests. The bus
shelters with advertising will be upgraded and new shelters
will be constructed to a special Wellington-friendly design.
Ms Leyland expressed concern about the older bus shelters
that have a gap between the bottom of the wall and the
ground. The gap in the old shelters will be reduced as part
of the upgrade, and the new shelters are being designed with
a smaller gap. The new shelters will also have wooden
seating as requested by Ms Leyland. Finally, Ms Leyland
claims that the bus shelters are an “example of decisions
being made by idiots sitting in air-conditioned buildings,
deciding for services they never actually use”. We can
reassure Ms Leyland, notwithstanding her cheap shot, that
many city council staff use the city’s buses and shelters
every day. We are, after all, not idiots but people
too.

Hugh Nicholson, Urban Designer, Wgtn City Council

•
Coralie Leyland replies: My apologies for the “cheap shot”
at council staff over the design of the new bus shelters.
Perhaps they are now lamenting their folly as much as the
many people who have mentioned the matter to me and caused
my original letter. As Hugh Nicholson pointed out, there was
a gap between the bottom of the wall and the ground in the
old shelters. It was a small gap and created a small
problem. The new shelters have a huge gap and a similar
sized problem. Maybe they will get it right the second time
round; now that the weaknesses have been pointed out.

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